JEFF DOWNS

Pay a visit to Jeff Downs' Farm, a 700-acre ranch about seven miles off of Highway 50 in Montrose, Colorado, and you'll come across cows grazing on tall grass, hogs rooting around in the pastures, and chickens clucking away in the fields. This may be how farming in this country used to look, but by today's agricultural standards, the Downs' Ranch is no ordinary American farm -- and owner Jeff Downs is no ordinary American farmer.

Jeff, who grew up helping out around the family ranch, was studying Animal Science at Cal Poly when he learned some startling truths about the business of farming in modern America. Uninterested in running his own farm according to the common model -- which he felt was unfair to the animals, the earth and the customers -- when he returned home to his family's ranchland he decided to create Kinikin Heights Natural Foods, a sustainable ranch and farm. What does that mean? Well, unlike at many farms, at Kinikin you won't find animals being dosed with antibiotics, hormones or steroids or locked up in crowded pens. All the animals graze outdoors, and pastures are rotated to ensure that no land gets overgrazed. No artificial fertilizers, pesticides or other chemicals are added to the soil, the water used on the ranch is re-circulated, and all of Downs' or Kinikin Foods' products are sold within 100 miles of the ranch. According to Jeff, all this makes for happier animals, a healthier product, more satisfied customers, and a better-preserved environment.

It's a responsible way of doing business, but it isn't an easy one. The work can be demanding and Jeff and his wife Jenicka have had to make sacrifices along the way, but they're proud of what they've achieved thus far. And they are looking forward to the future, towards a day when they are joined on the farm by their children and grandchildren, the next generations of responsible American farmers and true American Characters.